What do these five things have in common, aside from being fantastic songs? They’re words that I find inspiring. But more than that, they’re words I hope to live by in 2016.

Two more days. In two more days, I’ll be 32. While I officially surpassed my mother’s age back in August, it’s really just hitting me now, as I approach the first birthday she never reached. Perhaps this all seems a bit self-indulgent, but for some reason, I’ve always thought I would leave the world like she did – young, and with things left to do. There was – is – so much I want to accomplish before I die, and I had no idea…

Optimistic

January 25, 2016January 25, 201612 Comments

A beautiful sunrise is a great way to get the day off to an optimistic start.

What keeps you optimistic?

Trio

November 21, 2015November 22, 20152 Comments

Now that’s what I call a cat tree(o)…

Photo 365 #357

July 30, 2015July 31, 201511 Comments

A field of grass sparkles in the early morning light:

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Okay, it’s not really a field. It’s my yard.

Still, it’s lovely, isn’t it? 🙂

Photo 365 #301: On the way

June 4, 2015June 3, 20157 Comments

On my way to work the other morning, I noticed some daisies growing up by our garage. I love daisies, so I got the boys buckled in and stopped to snap a few pictures.

I love the way they turned out, and I can’t wait to get back out there and photograph them again. 🙂

Intricate

May 3, 2015May 3, 20153 Comments

I love old buildings. I love the architecture, I love the decorations, I love the tin ceilings. I’d love to have antique tin ceilings in my own house someday, but I’m not holding my breath over it – they’re crazy expensive.

But I digress. Late last summer, my mother-in-law and I took Miss Tadpole fabric shopping for her home ec. project. We went to a local fabric place, and while they were looking around at the fabric, I was looking around at the building. It had formerly been the town general store, and it was just beautiful.

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I stumbled across this in the middle of an aisle. I could have stayed there taking pictures of it all afternoon, as well as some of the other antique touches in the store. This is something I’d love to have in my house someday, even though we don’t have forced air heating.

Springfall

April 26, 2015April 26, 20157 Comments

springfall Last week, I got a great picture of my son in motion. The kids were all outside; I was busy snapping pictures of them in the magnolia tree they’d swarmed. Bubbles in particular loves climbing trees, so it was no surprise to see him in it, but the others spent almost as much time in it as he did.

Eventually, Miss Tadpole and Thumper started posing for the pictures, and I got a couple of really nice shots of them. Then Cricket joined in the fun. Not to be outdone, Bubbles joined them in all his silliness.

He spent five minutes horsing around in various states of upside-downness, but at last, his shoe gave way, and down he went. Unfortunately, my shutter finger wasn’t quick enough to catch his shoe as it followed him to the ground (with a brief layover atop his head).

It wasn’t the first time he’d slipped out of a tree that afternoon, and it wasn’t the last, but it was definitely the funniest. What can I say? He inherited his butterfingers from me. 🙂

Afloat

April 11, 2015April 10, 20156 Comments

slide As I’ve mentioned before, Thumper doesn’t know how to be still. The kid is always moving, even when he’s asleep.

What I wouldn’t give to have that kind of energy.

However, his inability to sit still has come in quite handy for this week’s photo challenge. Because he is completely unable to sit still, I was able to catch him floating off the slide one day at the park. I have no idea how I did it (though I’m pretty sure it involved burst shooting), but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Maybe the reason Thumper can’t sit still is because he’s such a happy little guy that all that joy physically lifts him up? Of course, if that’s the case, then maybe we’ll have to rechristen him Bubbles and find a new nickname for his big brother… 😀

Blur

April 6, 2015Leave a comment

This week’s photo challenge theme is blur. When taking pictures of kids (or at least, when taking pictures of my kids), I seem to end up with quite a few blurry pictures. Some of them are by design, but most aren’t. Thumper in particular never stops moving, so I love my cameras’ burst modes. In addition to being just plain fun, they allow me to capture great pictures of my little Energizer bunny that aren’t blurry.

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This picture, though, was blurry by design and features a cute moment with Miss Tadpole and Cricket. The Easter Bunny was kind enough to leave him a gift at my aunt’s house, and Miss T. thought it would be funny to look at him through the other end of his adorable binoculars. She was right – everyone got a kick out of it, including Cricket.

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter!